Timbers U.S. Open Cup dreams fall short in 2 to 1 loss to Real Salt Lake

View full sizeReal Salt Lake forward Alvaro Saborio has made a career of scoring against Portland, and he kept up that trend with a 7th minute goal off a Kyle Beckerman cross to put RSL on top early. While RSL scored a second goal to open things up more, Portland made it interesting with a late Diego Valeri header to bring the score to 2 to 1.Getty Images

The Portland
Timbers had never ventured to this point ever in U.S. Open Cup history,
qualifying for a semi-final match against Real Salt Lake on the road. With a coin flip that designated this bracket
as the hosts for the finale, the winner of the Portland Timbers – Real Salt
Lake would not only be moving one step away from securing the U.S. Open Cup
title, but they would have their title chance played out in front of their home
fans. Before that could happen, however,
Real Salt
Lake and Portland would need to determine a winner of
their semi-final match. RSL took an
early lead then doubled it in halfway through the second half, but had to hold
on after a wild finish courtesy of a Diego Valeri goal. In the end, Real
Salt Lake got the victory 2 to 1 to end Portland's USOC dreams in front of 14,
742 fans which included a large traveling contingent of Timbers Army.

Portland was buoyed by the return of all purpose midfielder Diego Chara,
who had missed the last two matches with a turf toe injury he suffered in the
scoreless draw in Philadelphia
back on July 20. With the midfield
struggling in some aspects of their attack, Chara's inclusion couldn't have
come at a better time. Timbers Coach
Caleb Porter went with several regular players as the Timbers next match wasn't
until August 17 when FC Dallas comes to visit JELD-WEN Field. Along with Chara, Will Johnson and Diego
Valeri in the midfield, Porter used Donovan Ricketts in goal, Michael
Harrington at right back, Pa Modou Kah, Andrew Jean-Baptiste, and Ryan Miller
at left back in defense, and Darlington Nagbe, Rodney Wallace and Ryan Johnson
at forward.

Even though Real Salt Lake has a league match on August 10 when Houston comes to visit,
RSL Coach Jason Kreis played several of his regulars which emphasized how
important the result was to both sides.
While Portland has never appeared in the
CONCACAF Champions League, RSL finished second in the 2010 – 2011 CCL losing to
eventual winner Monterrey
in the final while
they also qualified for the 2012-2013 tournament as the fourth MLS
representative. The Real Salt Lake
organization has made qualifying for the next season's tournament a priority,
and while they've been tested in several of their qualifying matches up to
their date with Portland,
they've also enjoyed the benefit of playing every match at home. Granted, hosting duties for USOC matches are
now determined randomly by coin flips at the USSF offices but apparently RSL
just has good luck with coins. Several
RSL veterans, like goalkeeper Nick Rimando, midfielders Kyle Beckerman and Ned
Grabavoy, defenders Nat Borchers and Chris Wingert, and forward and noted
"Portland Killer" Alvaro Saborio were amongst the listed starters for the home
side.

View full sizeDiego Valeri prepares to take a free kick during the Portland Timbers versus Vancouver Whitecaps Cascadia Cup clash. Valeri has had a busy week since the Cascadia match, as he has signed a long term extension with Portland as his rights were acquired, then he scores the Timbers only goal in their USOC match with Real Salt Lake.Rick Curwen, community blogger

First Half Thoughts: For the
first few minutes of the match, it looked like Portland was really struggling to find any
sort of rhythm in their passing. This
could have been due to the return of Chara, but I also believe that Real Salt
Lake was staying very
strong within their diamond midfield formation, which pushed any attacks out
wide allowing them to shift within the center to cover any crosses back towards
the middle. For their part, RSL was
creating early pressure resulting in an early corner kick at the 2nd
minute and a cross to RSL forward Robbie Findley that Kah had to make a big
play just to block. In the 6th
minute, RSL midfielder Khari Stephenson tried a long distance shot on goal that
Ricketts saved off his shin, but Miller played the ball out for a corner kick
instead of trying a blind clearance as he was turned towards goal and didn't
know if he was under attack.

The move proved rather costly because
RSL was able to take the lead just after the set piece. Beckerman triggered the ball into a teammate,
who dropped it back to him in the near corner with room to work. Beckerman settled and launched a cross into
the box towards Saborio, who had settled near the far post with no Timbers
player near him. The player that regularly torments Portland with his goal scoring prowess didn't
miss on the header, and Ricketts couldn't keep the ball from goal as the home
team took the early lead. The Timbers didn't let the early deficit rattle them,
and they put forth some sustained pressure courtesy of Nagbe on the right, but
space was finally opening up enough that Wallace, Chara, WJ, RJ and Valeri were
all able to create credible chances to attack.
Of the various attempts, the best one was Chara's missile in the 29th
minute that came from a counter, but Rimando was able to collect easily. RSL
got another quality shot from Stephenson in the 39th minute off a
free kick that had some spin to it, but Ricketts was able to settle it into his
keeper gloves.

The final five minutes provided the
best opportunities for the Timbers. Off
a lovely counter run, Valeri drops the ball to the right to Jean-Baptiste who
had tracked forward. AJB took some time
to settle, but then put a cross into the middle of the box for a charging W.
Johnson, who was running unmarked towards goal.
WJ's shot attempt dipped slightly down but was heading for goal until
Rimando deflected it over the crossbar for a corner with a quick reaction
save. On the ensuing corner attempt, the
ball was deflected out for a WJ cross that Rimando and AJB collided going for,
and tempers flared when RSL defender Carlos Salcedo stepped over the top of AJB
while he was on the ground. Pushing and
choice words were shared as Center Official Mark Geiger attempted to separate
everyone, while Salcedo and RJ both received cautions for arguing.

View full sizeReal Salt Lake midfielder Kyle Beckerman is easy to spot because of his unique hair, but he's also one of the key performers within the RSL midfield. Beckerman earned an assist on both RSL goals to help lead his team to victory over Portland.Real Salt Lake

The final play of the half was perhaps
the most controversial as it appeared that Geiger might have missed a handball
in the box by RSL defender Tony Beltran.
With Harrington dropping a through ball on the right, Valeri settled
near it and tried to cross but it was deflected back to him for a second
attempt. On the second effort, the ball
found RJ on the left post and he put a header off the post, but the ball
appeared to strike Beltran's extended arm within the deflection. Geiger and his assistants didn't make the
call, but at least on the replay, there looked to be enough evidence that they
might have missed the call.

Second Half Thoughts: Neither side made any changes at the
half, but Portland came out with a more determined attitude and put forth extra
pressure with Wallace out wide to see if they could stretch the RSL defense,
but they were having issues with finding the final pass to break free for shots
on goal. Word had reached the stadium
that D.C. United had defeated Chicago in the
other USOC semi-final, so with the traveling opponent determined, RSL and Portland could not
determine the host for the USOC final.
As W. Johnson took a long range shot in the 52nd minute, my
wife, Jennifer and I had noticed that Will was holding one of his arms
awkwardly while running up the pitch. I'm not entirely sure what happened to
cause the injury, but Will's night was done 10 minutes later when Porter made
the double switch of Kalif Alhassan and Jose Valencia for Will and Ryan to amp
up the pressure.

Prior to the
Timbers move though, there were two events that would affect the second half
greatly. Firstly, RSL made their first change to bring on super speedy forward
Joao Plata for Findley to see if they could stretch Portland about, but then the
Timbers followed the move with a 4 on 3 break with Valeri, RJ, Nagbe and
Wallace moving about with numbers. Valeri put a pass out left for RJ that
seemed to open up space, but Ryan had trouble collecting the ball which allowed
the RSL defense to get settled. Instead
of a breakaway goal chance that could have leveled the score, Portland was turned away because of a pass
that just missed. In the 72nd minute, the Timbers created another
shot at goal courtesy of Valeri.
Alhassan and Miller combined on a great run up the left side with Kalif
dropping into the corner and then tapping a ball back to Miller who was wide
open on the flank. As he was settling
the ball and put forth a cross into the box, Valeri had broken open on the
penalty spot and Miller hit him in stride with the pass. Valeri did get a head on the ball, but he
pushed it wide left of goal off frame.

Minutes
later, RSL extended their lead to 2 to 0 off a goal from Plata. Stephenson battled with Nagbe on a ball in
the air and won, getting it to Grabavoy who tapped it back to Beckerman. Beckerman put a through ball to Saborio near
the top of the box, who passed it to a charging Plata about 25 yards from
goal. The RSL forward put a laser shot
into the far left corner of the net that Ricketts couldn't do anything with,
and it appeared that Real
Salt Lake
was in complete control. There was also
some thought that Saborio was offside when he got the pass, but he was barely
online courtesy of Jean-Baptiste's arm that just kept him on the line.

View full sizeTimbers captain Will Johnson, shown here against Norwich City, was returning back to Real Salt Lake for the first time since the offseason trade that brought him to Portland. While he played reasonably well in the match, he was forced to leave in the 62nd minute with a shoulder injury. Reports are that an MRI and other tests show no damage to the shoulder, and his availability is day to day.Rick Curwen, community blogger

Portland continued to pressure the goal, but
it wasn't until stoppage time when they finally broke through. From the midfield, Valencia found Valeri at the top of
the box open with a through ball. Valeri displayed some fancy footwork to get
the ball to his right foot for a shot, but Rimando blocked the effort.
Unfortunately for the RSL keeper, he blocked it back to Valeri, who headed the
ball over the RSL keeper into the net to cut the RSL lead in half. With the
fourth official saying there were four minutes of stoppage time, there was time
for Portland to
make a run. While they did make it
interesting with a couple of developing runs on the right, they couldn't
overcome the deficit before the final whistle blew.

Final Thoughts: Real Salt Lake secured their place in the USOC
final on October 1 at Rio Tinto Stadium, meaning that they have an opportunity
to win the 2013 title without having to play any road matches within the
tournament. While the tournament went to
coin flips to randomize which team hosts each round, it's been a fortunate run
for RSL to be at this point without having to travel.

For Portland, it was another
case of statistical dominance in passing stats and possession, but they lacked
some quality in the final third to get the final passes into threatening spots.
While they did generate a couple of wonderful chances that broke through,
Rimando was able to make the saves in traffic until Valeri's effort at the end.
While Portland
played well, there is certainly room for improvement in terms of tempo and
movement to help break teams open more. I think having a healthy Chara will
help with that processes, especially with the Timbers' upcoming slate of
opponents – 8/17 vs. FC Dallas, 8/21 vs. Real
Salt Lake,
8/25 at Seattle, 8/30 at Real Salt Lake.

For more perspective on the match and a full list of player evaluations, click
here for the second part of my match report which will be available soon.